Barley Alive
by Shakia
Summary: Harper is kidnapped by aliens who claim they worked with the Dragons on the Ice Kludge project and they force him to do things he will never forgive himself for. Sequal to Frozen Nightmares. Currently incomplete...
1. Home Sweet Home

Title: Barley Alive

Sequel to: Frozen Nightmares

Author: Shakia

Spoilers: None

Summary: Harper is kidnapped by aliens who claim they worked with the Dragons on the Ice Kludge project and they force him to do things he will never forgive himself for.

Authors Notes: Finally I'm starting the sequel. It took me forever to come up with a good plot. I'm really happy with the one I finally thought up with and hope I can remember it all. Anyways, if you haven't guessed this is the sequel to Frozen Nightmares. You'd have to read that one first to understand this one O.o Again, I only have notepad thus I have no spell check, so don't tell me something's spelled wrong because I can't really do much about it. I do welcome flames and criticism as long as there's reason behind it and I beg you all to please review! And yes, this time I'm doing chapters. It just seems less confusing to me X.x Anywho, I hope you enjoy my story X.x

Update A/N: Okay, since I hadn't done this in this chapter I'm adding it now. Since I can't do weird symbol things for dividing stuff I'm putting -r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r- when it's an elapse of time or anything else it would be used for.

"If a shark stops swimming it will die. Don't stop swimming."  
-X-Files

The cold wall behind him burned his back, only making the agonizing pain that coursed through his body increase. He held his knees close to his chest, his breaths coming out shaky and uneven. He just wanted to sink into the wall, wanted to escape life itself. A cold and familiar feeling consumed him, eating him alive. The feeling was an unbearable guilt and utter self loathing. He hated, no despised himself for what he had done. As he brought up this subject somewhere in the back of his mind he began to slowly think of what he had done. Of what had happened. Without warning a flash of the scene in question alit his mind. More scenes flashed through his mind, but only bits and pieces. Finally as the last scene played itself out and the woman lying at his feet took her last breath Harper felt his heart drop like a weight as the entirety of what he had done impacted him. His tears became more and more difficult to hold in and his last shreds of hope were ripped from him, plunging him into a cold darkness. He had killed her. He had killed Beka Valentine.

-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-

Harper absently whipped a line of sweat from his brow as he concentrated on his work. He was finishing up on fixing Andromeda's sensors. Of course he could have finished it a lot faster if he had more access to the ship, but somehow he had managed without it. He slowly got to his feet, examining his finished work cautiously. Dylan's restriction so far had been going on for about three weeks. Of course he had just gotten out of medical two weeks ago, but it felt like much longer. It wasn't that he believe he didn't deserve the punishment, on the contrary he believed he deserved far worse. He sighed and shut his eyes momentarily. He hadn't gotten sleep in quite a while. He stayed up nights on end until his body couldn't handle it anymore. He hated sleep. Especially now since he had revisited his past so clearly and all this had started but three weeks before.  
Although Rommie, Rev and Trance had begged Dylan from the course of the two weeks to get rid of his restriction Harper noticed that he had, in fact, increased it slightly. Harper was positive Dylan would not take it off anytime soon. It was obvious he didn't trust Harper anymore than a soldier would trust their enemy. For one thing after Trance had told Dylan that he changed only in cold weather Dylan had cranked up the heat engineering and in his quarters. He did admit he enjoyed his way to his room more than anything else in the day because of how refreshing it was compared to engineering and his quarters.  
"Harper?" The voice snapped him out of his thoughts and after wearily wiping the sleep from his eye he headed toward the door.  
"I know Rommie, I'm heading to my quarters." He reassured her.  
"That's not what I was going to say Harper." She explained, her voice adapting some sadness and regret to it. Harper merely nodded absently.  
"Beka's back. The Maru just docked." She explained. This caught Harper's attention. Two week ago Beka had to leave on an important mission for the Common Wealth. He actually felt relieved that Beka was back, more than he thought he would be. He looked to a screen instinctively and hesitated.  
"Am I allowed to?" He started hastily. There was a pause before Rommie responded.  
"Yes, you can go great her." She said, also sounding relieved. Harper immediately left the Engine room, jogging down the hall toward the docking bay. He slowed when approaching the doors, a sudden realization hitting him. He would be seeing Dylan for the first time since in Medical where Dylan had given this restriction to him. 'Oh boy.' He thought as he cautiously went in as the doors slid open. The Maru sat on the docking bay floor; steam bellowed from it and signs of damage covered it. Harper immediately noticed this and concern filled him as he wondered if Beka was ok. His worries vanished as soon as he spotted Beka head out of it and down toward them. Harper caught the figure of Dylan and Trance in the corner of his eyes and tensed slightly.  
He realized suddenly that something was missing as Beka made her way to Dylan, telling him plainly that she had been fired on by some unknown enemy and had escaped. She said it so plainly that it made Harper realize just how much their last adventure on Adori had torn them apart. Beka suddenly spotted Harper and broke into a grin. Without saying anything more to Dylan she headed over to him.  
"Hey Harper!" She greeted, looking exhausted.  
"Hi boss." Harper replied, smiling wearily. "Glad your back safe." He added. She nodded, her smile never leaving.  
"What say we get something to eat?" She asked.  
"Beka." Dylan sighed from behind her. Beka's eyes hardened and she added rather coldly.  
"We'll eat in his quarters." As she said this she didn't bother to turn around. They headed out the door and down the hall toward his quarters.  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
Yes, I know, no cliffhangers. Be assured I have written more, I just wanted to get the story started finally " Anyways, TBC obviously.


	2. The Attack

Title: Barley Alive  
  
Author: Shakia  
  
Spoilers: None  
  
Squel to: Frozen Nightmares  
  
Summary: Harper is kidnapped by aliens who claim they worked with the Dragons on the Ice Kludge project and they force him to do things he will never forgive himself for.  
  
Author's Notes: Blah, I'm really sorry for how messed up the last chapter looked. I have no idea how to fix that so I can use the symbols to seperate everything X.x If anyone does, please let me know O.o sighs So, sorry if this chapter looks weird and is hard to follow. I'll have to agian resort to this. Um, I'm ganna put FB for flash back, -r-r-r-r-r- for just when it's a lapse of time and PT for present time. In the last chapter their was a key part that was messed up. The section at the very begining where he said he had killed Beka was in the future. I hope that helps a little X.x Oh, and if (which I find doubtful) anyone wants to put any of my Andromeda fics in an archive, feel free as long as you contact me first about it! Although I was thrilled at sparkycola1's offer :3 I hope you got my email about that X.x anyhow, onto the next chapter...  
  
Instantly after Beka had spotted Harper she had realized how horrible he looked. He was pale and thin. Another thing she had noted was how exhausted he had looked. It had been very obvious that he hadn't slept or eaten in quite a while. After noticing this her instant reaction was to try and get him to eat something. Surprisingly he hadn't caught her as she suggested they get something to eat. Beka had noted bitterly that Dyllan either didn't notice how horrible Harper looked, or just didn't care. She had told Harper she would meet him back in his quarters and was off to the mess hall to grab each of them some food to eat in there. As she walked through the halls she let out an agrivated sigh. How could Dyllan do this to him? She had been sure the whole "punishment" would have stopped long before she got back. She felt anger burn within her at the thought and found herself subconsiously clenching her hands into fists. She was seriously considering leaving Andromeda. She had been completley take back by Dyllan's reaction to this. He hadn't even tried to understand and, in fact, seemed to be afraid of Harper. The person who had saved them countless of times.  
She entered the door to the mess hall and weaved through the tables to where Andromeda usually prepared the food.  
"Andromeda?" She sighed wearily.  
"What are you going to have Beka?" Andromeda's voice asked as her hologram appeared before her.  
"I'm just grabbing something for me and Harper to eat. Maybe lasangna or something. Oh, and a Sparky Cola." She added as an after thought. Andromeda's hologram nodded before vanishing.  
"Andromeda?" Beka asked once more. "Can you tell me when the last time Harper ate was?" She asked uneasily.  
"Actually I was surprised you got him to eat." She told her. "Trance, Rev, I and even Tyr have been trying to get him to eat." She explained. Beka furrowed her brow.  
"Wow." She stated worriedly.  
"Harper hasn't eaten in about a week." She concluded.  
"What?!" Beka said in disbelief. She had expected it to have been a few days, but not a whole week. She found herself hesitant in asking the next question that seemed to follow after that. "How much sleep has he gotten?" She asked, concern clear in her voice.  
"Not much, but I'm worried about him Beka. Every night he either doesn't go to sleep or does and wakes up either screaming or covered in sweat." She explained as the food was deposited before Beka. Beka nodded and took the tray of food.  
"Thanks Andromeda." She sighed and headed for the door as thoughts swarmed through her mind.  
-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-  
Once Beka reached Harper's room she found that she was still deep within her thoughts. She was worried, angry, confused, and terribly concerned about Harper. She gave a weary sigh and entered the room. The long bar of light coming from the outside lay over the room and onto the bed Harper sat on. He winced at the sudden light as Beka stepped in. The doors slid shut and the first thing Beka realized was the rush of heat that came to great her.  
"Man Harper, why is it so hot in here?" She asked, heading toward his bed. She blinked a few times as she agian tried to get used to the very dim lited room. She was seriously wondering how Harper could see what he was doing in here. Harper shrugged as she set the food on the dressor beside his bed. Finally after another moment Beka adjusted to the darkness.  
"Alright, here's your food." She offered, handing him a plate and a Sparky Cola. His face lit up.  
"Alright, a Sparky!" He said, grinning.  
"Let me guess, Rommie wouldn't let you have one?" She asked, smiling.  
"How'd you guess?" He asked as he opened it. Beka frowned as she took her own food. She noted the tired and pained expression hidden behind his eyes. She doubted many other people would notice it, but she had known Harper long enough to see it. Beka soon realized Harper hadn't touched his food.  
"Harper, when I said let's get something to eat, I meant let's as in both of us." She said as she motioned toward his food. He merley shrugged.  
"I'm not really hungry." He told her.  
"To bad Seamus, you need it." She told him. He hesitated as he toyed with his food. Finally after a moment he took a bite. Beka grinned. "See, that wasn't too hard." She told him, urging him on. "Besides I'll get you another Sparky if you eat it all." She continued.  
"Make it a pack on you got a deal boss." He said, smilling. Beka also noticed that Harper had not truley smiled since she had returned. None of them reached his eyes. She nodded.  
"Alright, but you have to finish all of it." She said as she took a bite of her lasagna. There was a pause between them from which the two ate. As Beka skimmed over the room once more she realized how many more devices lay around it. Before she had left there had merley been a few; all unfinished. Now their had to be at least three times as much, mist looking quite finished. Soon the thing that had been eating her from the moment she stepped into the room became too much of an annoyance.  
"Harper, why do you want it this hot?" She asked finally. Harper stopped eating and tensed. Beka noticed this and furrowed her brows. "Harper?" She asked cautiously.  
"Uh...I'm cold..." He tried uneasily.  
"Harper, you'll have to give me something better than that." Beka pointed out. Harper shot a momentary glance to her.  
"No really, I am." He said hastily.  
"You really aren't that good at lying Seamus." She pointed out. "Andromeda could you turn down the hea-" She began.  
"No!" Harper blurted out suddenly. Beka turned to him.  
"Harper?" She asked nervously. He hesitated.  
"Sorry boss....I'm just really, really cold." He said.  
"Harper, you're sweating more than I am." She said softly. Concern filled her once more as she tried to think of why Harper would possibly want the heat up so high. It had to be big because he was so determined in avoiding her every question about it. He fidgeted nervously, shooting a look up at Beka.  
"No reason." He tried. Man, he really didn't want her to know. She looked at him, her gaze full of worry. She realized that he wasn't going to give in.  
"You better finish your food." Beka said. Harper seemed relieved to have a change of subject and continued to eat. Without warning a loud bang errupted from around the ship, catapulting the two off the bed and careening to the floor. What little light there was shut off, plunging them into darkness.  
"Harper, are you okay?" Beka groaned immiediatly after she had been able to get a hold of her thoughts. Her head throbbed painfully for she had hit it rather hard agianst the wall behind her. She spotted him beside her as he slowly got to his feet and nodded. "Yea." He replied, rubbing his head and looking toward the door. Beka struggled to her own feet; leaning agianst the wall for balance. "What the heck was that?" He asked after a moment.  
"No idea." Beka admitted. "Andromeda?" She called out to the room. No responce. She had a very bad feeling about this.  
"Beka, Rev, Trance, report to the bridge immidiatly." Dyllan's voice rang out. Beka headed toward the door and was about to give her command code to open it, but paused when realizing Harper wasn't behind her. In order for Harper to be locked in his quarters anyone who wanted to get out had to give their command codes.  
"Harper?" She asked, barley able to make out his figure as he stood by the wall.  
"You sure it's okay I get out of here, Bek?" He asked uneasily. She felt the familiar anger at Dyllan burn through her at this question.  
"Yea, we're under attack and your the best engineer anywhere!" She said, sounding almost irritable. He headed over toward her and she turned to the door and stated her command code. The door opened and to Beka's surprise she came face to face with Rommie.  
"Beka, we have to get to the bridge." She said hurriedly. Beka noticed that it was just as dark in the halls as it was in Harper's room. "Sensors are down and so is power in almost everything." She explained. Beka nodded. Rommie turned to Harper, her face suddenly falling.  
"I'm so sorry Harper, but you'll have to stay here." She apoligized honestly. Beka felt her jaw drop. No way could Dyllan have gone this far. Even Tyr would have to agree this was definatley harming their chances of survival if their Engineer wasn't allowed to fix anything when they were under attack.  
"But Rommie I could help-" He started pleadingly.  
"Sorry Harper." Rommie repeated, her voice still filled with regret.  
"Rommie, you can't be serious." Beka began in disbelief.  
"Beka, this is very urgent." Rommie told her. Beka sighed irritabley.  
"Fine. It'll give me a chance to talk to Dyllan anyways." She sighed before looking over to Harper. "I'm really sorry Harper. I promise I'll be back for you." She told him. What Beka didn't realize was that later her promise would be depended on. That it would be the only thoughts that would keep Harper sane.  
Harper nodded as the he stepped back inside his quarters. Beka watched as the door slid shut and cursed out load.  
"I swear Rommie, I am seriously going to get this to stop one way or another." She vowed angrily. Of course "one way or another" included the fact she was seriously considering leaving Andromeda with her crew.  
"Beka we can discuss that later, right now we need to get to the bridge." Rommie told her. Beka nodded as Rommie took off down the hall. Beka quickly ran after her, begining to wonder what had happened to make everything shut down so suddenly.  
-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-  
Harper paced back and forth through his quarter's, his mind racing. He felt so helpless here. He had never thought that he wouldn't be aloud to fix Andromeda. She needed him now and he wasn't aloud to fix her. He bit his lower lip as thoughts continued to race through his mind. Although he was sure that he deserved far worse than the punishment he had recieved he didn't think it should go so far to where others were in danger. He wouldn't stay here while the ship was being attacked. He wouldn't stay here if everyone could die all because he hadn't helped. At that moment Harper made the decision to brake out of his room and head to Engineering where he could try to fix the problem. He headed to the door and knelt down beside a panel that was next to it. He quickly took it off and went to work.  
If he had wanted to get out of his room it would have been simple for him. The codes and safeguards Andromeda had set up to prevent him leaving were easy for Harper to by-pass. Soon he had done just that and the door beside him slid open. Harper abandoned the open panel and ran out the door. As he did the ship suddenly shook voilently and an explosion sounded out. Harper steadied himself before he picked up his pace as he tore toward Engineering, his mind focused on the one goal. He had to repair the ship while he still could. The halls were dark, almost pitch black. Harper realized that even the little backup power needed to dimly light the ship was gone. Nothing had ever drained her of so much power before. Just as he was nearing his goal he suddenly felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He stopped, wheeling around and automatically reaching for his gun. He silently cursed when remembering his was taken away.  
"Hello? Beka?" He asked the hallway cautiously. Only a tense silence responded him and after another moment he cautiously continued, ever so often flashing a look over his shoulder. Soon he was sure someone was watching him so he stopped once more.  
"Hey, who's there?!" He demanded, spinning around. "If it isn't the Ice Kludge." He jumped as panic rose in his chest as he took a step back. Although the voice wasn't familiar, it sent his skin crawling. Without warning he felt a sudden seering and blinding pain from the back of his head along with the sound of metal clashing agianst something, before he felt his legs curmple beneath him. The ground rushed up to meet him and soon all he knew was darkness.  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
The End...Naw, just kidding :P TBC So anywho, that was the second chapter :3 Remember that I only have Notepad so can't correct my spelling and also Please, please review! 


	3. Misunderstandings

Title: Barley Alive  
  
Author: Shakia  
  
Spoilers: None  
  
Sequal to: Frozen Nightmares  
  
Summary: Harper is kidnapped by aliens who claim they worked with the Dragons on the Ice Kludge project and they force him to do things he will never forgive himself for  
  
Authors Notes: Thanks so much for the reviews guys! :3 Like in the last chapter I'll have to do the anoying weird thing for the symbols representing flashes back in time, present time, and just elapse with time -.- Oh, and as for why Dylan's being so mean to Harper this chapter will clear that up! So, hope you enjoy the next chapter!  
  
Dylan sighed as he sat in his quarters. Although he knew Beka was right, he just couldn't let up on Harper's restriction. Not after what he had seen. It all seemed to just be so scrambled. He had not only killed that Neitchian back on the planet, he had sloughtered him...then before with the rest of the Neitchians on the planet. He had killed everyone of them. It wasn't that Dyllan liked the Dragons, on the contrary he knew Harper had every right to not like them since they had ruled Earth; but he had sloughtered all of them. That was a small reasons he couldn't get past it, but it wasn't the real reason. He shut his eyes as the memory came back to him.  
The once white snow now drenched in a crimson red. The bodies scattered over the land. The blood splattered across the room and on Harper's claws. But the one thing that got him, the one reason he couldn't let back on his restriction was the madning anger that flared in his eyes and the overpowering hunger for destruction that lingered within them. That look, it just brought back too many memories. Memories of him and Rhade being sent after to capture a mad man. The man went across the galaxie, slaughtering hundreds of innocent people for his own enjoyment; to satisfy the overpowering hunger for destruction and gruesom death that consumed the man. He hadn't just killed them though. He had done far worse to them. He had been a sick and inhuman man who went by the name "The Monster". He would tortured his victims in the most inhuman ways possible. He would desire their fear and their sobbing forms. He would watch with pleasure as the blood spilt from their veigns. He'd watch as they begged for their lives as he slowly killed them. Dylan shut his eyes and took a deep breath. He had ended up being captured by the man...Rhade had saved him, but not after he had spent four days with The Monster. He didn't remember much of the details, mostly only flashes, but Rhade had said he had barley made it. Through those four days the one thing he clearly remembered, the one thing that haunted all of his dreams was looking into those eyes and finding the inhuman hunger within them. The hate and horrible madness that dwelled there. Dylan surpressed a shudder at the memory. He hadn't been back to that dark room until he had seen the look in Harper's eyes. They were the same ones he had seen in The Monster's. He scrubbed his hands over his face and got to his feet, trying to take his mind elsewhere. He never wanted Any of his crew to have to go what he went through those four days. Even though knew they might have been through worse he knew that no one should have to live through something like that. Without warning a loud explosion errupted through the ship, causing him to fly backwards. He slammed agianst the wall and fell to the floor with a thud. His thoughts were immidiatly focused on the situation at hand and as he scrambled to his feet and yelled to his ship,  
"Andromeda report!"  
"D-Dylan..." She began, her voice skipping slightly. "Explosions-in the ship-" She said before suddenly everything shut off and he was thrown into darkness.  
"Andromeda?!" He yelled to the room. There was no responce. After letting out a curse he ran out the door, heading toward the bridge. What the heck was going on?! "Andromeda report!" He tried agian. The ship remained silent and instead another explosion rang out, rattling the ship. Dyllan fell agianst a wall beside him for support before abandoning it and racing foreword. What had she said? Explosions in the ship...Why would the explosions be originating in the ship?  
He swerved around the corner and through the bridge doors. Rommie turned around to see him and Tyr stood beside a consul.  
"Dylan!" Rommie said, looking very troubled but somewhat relieved to see him.  
"Rommie, what the heck is going on?!" He demanded as without hesitation he headed to the closest consul to him.  
"The explosions are in the ship being caused by a virus." She explained quickley. Dyllan looked up from what he had been doing.  
"A virus?" He asked uncertainly. She nodded, her face still lined with worry.  
"Yes and it was transfered into the ship within it!" Tyr explained angrily as he rapidly looked over the damage.  
"Within the ship?" He asked in disbelief. Rommie nodded agian, somewhat reluctantly. "Do you know when it was transfered?" He continued, returning to the consul as he talked.  
"Yes..." She said reluctantly. "In engineering this morning. It was transfered through the sensors." She told him grimly. Dyllan stopped dead as he went slightly pale. No.  
"Harper was the only one in there." It wasn't a question, but a statement. She nodded.  
"And he had been working on my sensors." She continued regretabley. Although Dyllan had lost his trust with Harper he truley would have never expected this. He didn't even know if he could bring himself to believe Harper did it.  
"Rommie is there anyway I can send a message across the ship?" He asked after regaining control of himself. She nodded and quickley activated the comms.  
"Beka, Rev, Trance, report to the bridge immidiatly." He said before turning the comms off. The comms had been nearly the only thing not effected by the power loss.  
"Rommie go to Harper's room..." He heaved a sigh, not believing what he was about to say. "Make sure he doesn't leave it."  
"Dyllan, you don't believe-" She began. Dyllan shook his head.  
"No, I don't, but we can't afford to take that risk." He explained wearily. Did he really believe it? He found with dismay that part of him was pursuaded to the idea. But Dyllan promised himself he would not believe it until he looked into it. He felt even more tired than before as he realized just how harsh he had been on Harper. Harper had pulled them through so much. Why did he just realize this now when they were in the midst of posible destruction? Dyllan felt weary and drained. He expected most of the crew did after everything that had happened. He sighed and turned to Tyr.  
"What's the damage report?" He asked.  
"Sensors are gone, as is slipstream. The ship has been completley drained from it's energy." He sighed. Yet another explosion rang through the ship, making it shake voilently. Dyllan grabbed the consul as he tried to stay on his feet. Trance and Rev burst through the door, nearly stumbling over eachother from the recent explosion.  
"Dyllan, what's going on?" Rev asked immidiatly, his voice filled with worry.  
"Andromeda's shut down because of a virus and we need to find a way to nutralize it." He explained quickley. Suddenly Beka stormed into the room with Rommie not far behind her.  
"Dyllan you have just gone way too far this time! How idiotic could you possibly-" She started furiously.  
"Beka. Beka!" He yelled as he tried to get his attention.  
"What?!" She snapped, fuming. Dylan flashed a worried look to Rommie before returning her gaze to the woman before him.  
"Before you say anything promise to let me finish." He said. Beka seemed very reluctant to do so and hesitated. "Please." He added wearily. She nodded hesitantly.  
"Ok, but only till your finished." She agreed.  
"The ship has been infected with some kind of virus. The explosions going on our being caused by a virus. Andromeda was able to record when the virus was put into her and found out that it was put through her sensors in Engineering this morning. Throughout the entire day Harper was the only one to ever enter Engineering." He continued calmly.  
"Dylan, y-" Beka started.  
"I haven't finished yet." He told her. Beka gave him a death glare, but said nothing. "I can't believe Harper would do this either. I know he's saved us dozens of times, but we just can't risk it at this point. When this is cleared up though we'll look into it and I'm sure there'll be a reasonable explanation." He told her.  
"Are you done yet?" She asked bitterly.  
"Yes." He said, but raised a finger. "Yell at me later, right now we have to try and save the ship." He said. She gave an agressive sigh, but nodded all the same. Dyllan looked over to Rommie. "Alright, let's get started. Rommie, where's the virus right now, and what's it's nature?" He demanded. Rommie paused and seemed to be reading something when clearly nothing was there. She frowned.  
"It's very, very high tech." She paused agian. "Very, very hightech." She repeated worriedly. "It's duplicating itself twenty times per second; Dyllan if we don't stop it soon we'll be dead within the hour." She told him. Just great.  
"Ok, do you have any idea how we can nutralize it?" He asked quickly. She shook her head regretably.  
"I've never seen anything like it Dyllan." She said. Crud, why did Harper have to be the one who was suspected to releasing it when at this point he was the only one who could've destroyed it.  
"Alright, Trance, Rommie, Beka, take a scamatic of the virus and go to Medical to try and figure out how to kill it; Tyr, you and I will try to do something to slow the viruses from within Engineering." He ordered quickley. Everyone nodded and raced out the door, all heading toward their posts.  
-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-  
Dyllan sat beside an open panel, feverishly working on it. So far they had thrown everything they could think of at the virus, but it appeared to be unstopable. By this point they only had twenty minutes till life support shut down.  
"Got anything else up your sleeve, captian?" Tyr asked.  
"Well, check in with Beka and Trance?" He sighed. Dyllan hated to admitt it, but at this point Harper was there only hope. Even if he had put it in there was a good chance he hadn't and they'd be dead anyways. "Alright, let's get Harper." He said as he got to his feet. Tyr raised a brow.  
"I never thought I'd hear you say that." He stated. Dyllan shrugged and ran out the door.  
"You stay here and continue." He yelled over his shoulder as he left the room -r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-  
Dyllan slowed as he aprouched Harper's quarter's. These were the moments he was glad he took runs through Andromeda every morning. Suddenly something caught his eye and as he turned to see what it was he found the door to be open. He felt a sudden uneasness fill him and cautiously headed into the room, scanning it over as he did.  
"Harper?" He asked uncertainly. No responce. Dyllan's foot clanged agianst something and he immidiatly pulled it back. As he looked down he found it to be a panel cover. His eyes travled upward to find the open panel itself, glowing dimly. He realized with a sigh that Harper had broken out. Things were just getting better and better. He thought irritabley. Agian Something caught his attention and he turned to see what it was. Although things were strewn across the floor he managed to spot a flexi sticking out of what appeared to be a dressor with a broken lock on it. The reason it had caught his attention was because it was glowing. He furrowed his brow before cautiously making his way through the mess toward it. The dressor itself was on it's side so he had to bend down to pull it out. As he pulled it up before him he froze, his face paling. No. He couldn't believe what he saw.  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
TBC. I'm glad I finally got Dyllan's whole side of it up. Anyways, please review! :3 


	4. Framed

Title: Barley Alive  
  
Author: Shakia  
  
Spoilers: None  
  
Sequal to: Frozen Nightmares  
  
Summary: Harper is kidnapped by aliens who claim they worked with the Dragons on the Ice Kludge project and they force him to do things he will never forgive himself for.  
  
Authors Notes: Wow, thanks so much agian guys! The reviews really do encourage me :3 Anyways, onto the next chapter...  
  
The door of the cell shrieked as the Nietchian beside him opened it. He gave him a hard shove and Harper fell to the ground with a grunt. He felt dazed and disoriented from whatever they were doing to him. The door slammed shut with a sudden clang that made him jump. He was also jumpy, he noted, not to mention confused. His mind swam with a confusion that seemed not to be explained and a state of dazed and dizzyness that seemed to cloud over his thoughts and feelings. Yet the one feeling of hate seemed to claw free of the mash of confusion. Whatever the stupid ubers had done to him he knew he was messed up. He groaned, but was too exhausted to move. The sounds of people shrieking filled the hallways from others like him. He was sure they had heard him cry out in pain more than once too.  
His body ached and pain radiated through it. Even now blood continued to slide down his face. He shut his eyes as he tried to consentrate on not thinking about what had happened, but it was harder to do that here. Harder when every sesion became worse and harder with people's screams and sobs echoed around him. He shut his eyes tighter, trying to drown out the noise. Trying to drown out the very world around him. But a sudden voice came through his barcade he put over his mind and he forced his eyes open. He stumbled backward suddenly as he found a face to linger before him.  
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare ya." The girl before him appoligized. He studied her a moment and felt a sense of insecurity fill him. Of course the ubers would put him in a cell with someone else. They wouldn't waste their time giving everyone their own. He subconciously scooted backward, knowing all to well never that she could be a lot stronger than she appeared. He had had bad experiances with contact with other people outside his family. Most did when you were on earth. He quickley tried to ward off the memories that threaten to creep into his mind and turned to the girl.  
"Who are you?" He demanded suspiciously, his voice raspy and hard to make out.  
"Mara." She responded simply, but also looked him over with untrusting eyes.  
"Harper." He responded gruffly. Her gaze fell to something beside her.  
"I have water here." She stated and slowly held up a bowl. Harper lowered his head and tried to not think of how dry his throat was. "You gotta be thirsty after another sesion." She said, before adding, "And they only bring you enough water to keep you alive. There isn't going to be anymore until two days from now." She continued, holding out the bowl. He looked from the bowl to her suspiciously.  
"Why?" He asked stonily, continuing to survey her untrustingly. She raised a brow.  
"'Cause by my estimate you haven't drinkin in quite a while and you'll die if you don't get some water, so I don't want a smelly corpse in this jail cell." She stated, shoving it toward him. He took it hesitantly, flashing a look back up to her before trying his luck. The water was cool and refreshing as it slid down his throat. He found himself to be more thirsty than he thought he would be.  
"Thanks." He murmered after setting the bowl down. She gave him a weak smile.  
"People have to look after eachother down here." She whispered with a sigh.  
- - -PT - - -  
The first thing that Harper realized as he slowly began to drift into conscienceness was the pain. It seered through his skull and throbbed painfully. He moved his arm up to touch his aching skull only to find that it was strained down by a cool and metelic restraint. His heart suddenly began to race as for a moment he thought he was back on the earth at the age of fifteen. He quickley shook off the idea and tried to recall what had happened. Man, his head hurt so bad. He was on the Andromeda. He had been heading to Engineering when...when he realized someone had been there. Although his eye lids felt like lead he managed to force them open. He found that he regretted this decision immidiatley for the light around him burned his eyes, doubling the pain in his skull.  
"Nice that you've finally joined us." Harper started at the sudden voice and turned his head to where the voice had come from. An alien stood a ways away from him. He had tanish skin and as well as spikes on his shoulders and a rather muscular appearance. His thoughts suddenly focused on the fact he couldn't move his legs or arms and looked down. He paled as a horrible dread and terror filled him. Metal, half circular restraints held him down to a metalic table that looked identical to the ones in the lab on earth. The ones he had spent months upon months trapped in. He couldn't take his eyes away from the site and his breathing quickened somewhat. "So you remember?" The alien asked. He felt a sudden hate and furry consume him and tour his eyes away, focusing them on the alien.  
"What the heck am I doing here?!" He demanded furiously. The alien smirked.  
"Seamus Harper, isn't it? The only known Ithro, or as the Neitchians put it, Ice Kludge left in existance." He said, the smile never leaving his face. Harper gritted his teeth, glaring at the man. "You wonder why you're here?" He asked almost absently after a moment. He paused once more as though trying to think of an accurate answer for the question. "Obviously the Drago Kazuf pride never told you why they made you?" He asked.  
"For a war." He scowled in responce. The man let out a laugh.  
"You really think they'd put in two years of constant work for a mere war?" He laughed, his grin widening. He shook his head. "No, they didn't do it for a war. In fact they didn't even do it by themselves." He explained. Harper continued to glare at him and yet found himself confused to what he meant. "We worked with the Neitchians." He stated. Harper found himself surprised at this. "They wouldn't have been able to get so far without us. A long time ago we had thought up this idea. No one was willing to be put through through the process and so we contacted the Drago Kazuf." The man explained the whole thing like it really was no big deal. Harper began to build the same loathing he had had for the Neitchians for the alien before him as the man told him about their involvment. "The idea was to make the perfect fighting creature. One more stronger than any thing out there." He continued, his eyes shining with excitment at the idea. "And yet we both feared the other would betray eachother. So we each picked a certain amount of people to be on the project that would only know half of the information. After two years we finally had our sucess. Our scientists began to speed up their process on a different invention being built here that was tied in with you creation." Harper looked away from the man, instead constrating on the cieling. Was was he telling him all this? He felt the hate within him to stir further. It wasn't right how the man talked about the idea. He had no right to talk of it like that. He shut his eyes, but continued to listen all the same.  
"The Neitchians began to have second thoughts about the whole thing after finding out just how powerful all of you were. We barley kept them on board by sending them a prototype of the device and letting them use you for their pittiful war. The Irthros won it in a matter of days." Harper heard the man walk toward him and chanced opening his eyes. "Since you had escaped them they feared it would be a matter of time before the others did. Finally they cut off the research and killed every one of them. Before we thought all of the Ithros had been destroyed, thus everything died with them. We only knew half of the information and so there was no way to continue the project. It was shut down, even though we completed the device we had been working on. Until four weeks ago we had no idea one still existed." He went on and took a step closer. Harper tensed as he did this and yet kept his gaze firm and unfearful. "It was pure luck that you were the strongest and most advanced Ithro there was." He said. Harper was taken aback by this and found that for a moment it must have shown on his face. "You had more than the others. I'm rather surprised you didn't know." He stated. He took one final step toward him. Harper felt himself tense even further, recognizing the look on the man's face all to well.  
"Do you want to know what the device we had been working on was, Seamus?" He asked in barley a whisper. Harper didn't respond and the man pulled something from behind his back. Harper's heart skipped a beat. It was a black collar.  
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Rommie studied the panel before her. She felt her AI fade even further and felt the worry in her increase. By her estimates they had only ten minutes till life support shut down and then fifteen minutes till the whole ship was torn apart and they were no where near a solution. The explosions had come more frequently and more in power. Medical had been in danger of being destroyed so the three had moved to Engineering with Tyr to try and figure something out. Beka had left to go get Harper a little while ago while she, Rev, Tyr and Trance continued looking for a solution. Trance glanced up at her worriedly.  
"Rommie I don't think Harper did this." She said suddenly. Rommie was surprised by Trance's timing. They hadn't even gone near the subject as they had worked.  
"I don't either Trance, but we have to consentrait on killing this-" Tyr had been about to cut them off, but Beka entered the room, beating him to it.  
"The Maru's gone." She said. Rommie turned to look at her.  
"What?" She asked.  
"The Maru, she's gone. I went to get Harper and he wasn't in his quarters. On the way back I saw the doors to the docking bay open. She's gone." Beka explained. That had been their last chance. The Maru had been their last resort. The escape pods would've taken at least forty minutes to eject with this power loss.  
"Five minutes!" Rommie said suddenly as another explosion rang through the ship. They had to figure this out fast, or they'd all be dead. The door opened suddenly and Dyllan entered the room, a flexi clasped in one hand and a tool in the other. Rommie had wondered where he had been and was about to ask when he walked right past them, heading toward a panel to her left. She noted his face was grim as he worked for a moment on the panel before releasing something into the ship's system. "Dyllan, what-" She began, but paused suddenly as she felt her AI begin to regain power. The virus started to die down through her systems and the explosions stopped. Dyllan slowly got to his feet, the flexi still held in his hand.  
"The virus is dying." She announced, surpised. Everyone looked from her to Dyllan in shock. The lights slowly began to flicker on and a dim glow filled the room.  
"Dyllan?" Rev asked after a moment. Dyllan sighed, looking weary.  
"I found this in Harper's quarters." He explained, holding out the flexi. Rommie immidiatly recognized the picture on it to be the virus. "It was locked in his drawr and by the looks of it had been in there for a while." He sighed. "It had notes on the virus that you couldn't have unless you had studied the virus for weeks or..." He left off for a moment and Rommie found herself to finish his statment.  
"Or create it." She said. He nodded.  
"Dyllan-" Beka began. Rommie could tell she too was exhausted. Dyllan merley handed her the flexi.  
"With the notes I made an antidote." The lights grew steadily brighter and Rommie felt her AI grow stronger with it.  
"Dyllan, Harper would never have done this." Rommie told him.  
"We'll still look into the matter right after we get Harper in here." He stated. Rommie knew that now that sensors were back up Andromeda had already begun to scan the ship for him and paused, a frown on her face.  
"Dyllan...Beka found out that the Maru is missing and Harper's no longer on the ship." She explained suddenly. Dyllan looked up at her. He paused for a moment.  
"Andromeda, scan for any sources to where Harper may have gone." He told her as he heading toward the door.  
"Aye' captain." Andromeda stated as her holgram appeared for a moment. She seemed worried and yet relieved they all weren't dead.  
"Dyllan?" Rommie asked as he continued toward the door.  
"I'm getting Harper's tool belt. He did use them this morning while fixing sensors, didn't he?" He asked. She nodded and with that he left the room. Beka had finished reading the flexi and scowled.  
"Harper would kill himself before doing this." She scowled, tossing the flexi to the floor and following after Dyllan. Rommie sighed, reminded of when Tyr had been framed of killing the ambastor of a planet they had wanted to sign up for the Common Wealth. The situation was similar and maybe the evidence would prove to be false. She kept this thought in mind as she stood there, hoping that Harper had truley not done this.  
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Dyllan entered Harper's room, climbing over everything that had collapsed and fallen onto the floor. Finally he spotted the tool belt sticking out from a pile of shattered glass. He reached over and pulled it out, careful not to get cut.  
"Dyllan." He turned to see Beka in the door way.  
"Beka." He responded cautiously, though already knew what was coming.  
"Dyllan, Harper didn't do this." She told him as he headed back to the door. He sighed.  
"We'll get to the bottom of this." He promised her.  
"Dyllan, how can you even consider this?! This is Harper we're talking about!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands up into the air.  
"We'll look into it, and if you're right will find he isn't." Dyllan told her. He felt a sence of doubt weigh heavily upon him while thinking this. There could be no other explanation. Harper had put the virus through the sensors that morning, broken out of his room and abandoned the ship with the Maru. Even though Dyllan knew that this seemed like the only explanation, he would dig to find any other pluasable explanation until their was nothing left to dig through.  
Once they reached Engineering Dyllan headed over to a table on it's side and hoisted it back up. He then set the tooldbelt upon it and turned to everyone else.  
"Rommie, which tools did he use?" He asked, looking over to her. She gave him an uncertain look before something seemed to dawn on her.  
"You think the virus might have been released by one of them?" She asked, walking over to him. He sighed.  
"Hope not." He muttered as he picked up a scanning device from a drawr in the table. Rommie pulled out a few of the tools, setting them beside the belt. Dyllan began to scan them and noticed Beka in the corner of his eye, looking very pissed.  
"Dyllan, we should be looking for Harper, not in here trying to pin him for something he didn't do." Beka growled. Dyllan was about to turn to look at her, but the scan he took was complete. Although it wasn't totally thorough, it would catch anything out of the ordinary in the tool. As he read through the readings he felt whatever small trust and hope he had regained in the engineer fall apart.  
"The virus was released by these tools." Dyllan sighed as he set the scanner down.  
"Yea, but I doubt it was released by him. I know Harper and he would never do this. Ever." She warned them all strictly.  
"Beka, I don't want to believe this either. We'll do this thoroughly." He promised her. She sighed and rolled her eyes, her trust with Dyllan long lost.  
"Alright, but while we're doing that let's go after the Maru." She suggested.  
"Beka, it could be anywhere." Andromeda's voice explained worriedly. Trance perked up as a screen of all the slipstream routes in this system popped up. Although Andromeda had pulled these up only to show them how impossible it would be to find the Maru Trance moved to it.  
"Let's try this one." She suggested and pointed to one of the closest slipstream routes. Everyone turned to look at her and she shrugged.  
"Alright." Dyllan agreed. He turned once more toward Beka. "Beka, you'll need to polit through slipstream." He told her. She nodded before turning and racing through the door. "Rev could you and Trance scan these tools thoroughly? And Andromeda could you go through your ship log to see if Harper was doing anything out of the ordinary this morning?" He asked. Rev and nodded reluctantly while Trance gave a hesitant shrug.  
"Ok." She agreed as she and Rev took the tools.  
"Tyr, go the bridge and help Beka." He sighed as he headed toward the door.  
Dyllan left Engineering and again headed toward Harper's quarters. He felt troubled as all of it seemed to fall into place. It all went together so well Dyllan couldn't help but begin to think Harper had done this. No one had been on board so if anyone would have tried to frame him it would have been one of the crew. There were many reasons this had been ruled out. The first was that Harper was the only one aboard capable of making the virus. Also everyone but Harper had been aboard during the virus's attack. Dyllan shook his head. How could it have come to this? After all they had been through he wondered how could Harper betray them so readily? That was the only reason he hadn't already closed the case. He hoped beyond anything that Harper hadn't done this, that he was as Beka said, innocent. He sighed, wondering if it was even possible that this could be true.  
"Harper, what have you done?" He whispered to the empty corridor.  
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Agian TBC! Hope you guys enjoyed that chapter. I might not be able to update for a little while (Maybe till Friday?) because of school, but I shall try! :3 Anyways, please review! 


	5. Trapped

Title: Barley Alive  
  
Author: Shakia  
  
Spoilers: None  
  
Summary:  
  
Sequal to: Frozen Nightmares  
  
Authors Notes: Sorry about the long delay X.x We were on vacation during the weekend before last and I've been in Seatle the last one, and I have loads of homework since it's nearing the end of the quarter...-.- But at least I've finally updated :3 Anyways, thanks agian guys for the reviews! They seriously help!  
  
The black and matellic collar before him shimmered in what little light surounded them. Harper winced inwardly as he recognized the collar to be much like the one the Dragons had put on the others back on earth. He had always found himself wondering why he had to be the only one out of the hundreds who had not only lived, but escaped. He often found himself wishing Josh or Mara had been the ones to survive rather than him.  
"You wouldn't think we'd create you if we couldn't control you?" The alien asked him. Harper was tacken aback by the comment. Control him? What the heck was he talking about? As though the alien had read his mind he continued. "When we put this on you, we'll be able to control everything you do, but, only up to a point." He explained calmly. Harper stared at him in disbelief. They were going to turn him into a killing machine. No, he couldn't let them do that. He couldn't let Taneth be right. It would be just like Taneth had said.  
"Once you accomplish whatever we tell you to do, it will shut down until the next task is brought up." He continued calmly. Harper continued to glare at him even though he felt fear fill him. He had to do something. He had to get out of here. As he thought this he tried desperatley to come up with a plan, anything, that could get him out. Though he tried, he knew that at least while he was on this stupid table there would be no way for him to escape. With that last thought another one struck him.  
Would Andromeda come to save him? Were they even still alive? If they had survived would they waste their time trying to find him? What if they were dead? He felt trapped and lost as he tried to control his fear and confusion. Somewhere from the back of his mind he was reminded of something. Beka had promised. He forced his thoughts to slow at this. She had promised him that she would come back for him. No matter where he was. His attention focused back on reality as the alien beside him continued, making Harper wonder if he really could read his mind.  
"Before you think that your friends will come and save you, because I would have had no doubt that they would have, you better know they're most likley dead." He told him. Harper was good at not letting his emotions show and so when he felt a sence of fear and doubt once more claw at him he was able to hide it from the alien. "Of course, Andromeda's been through worse." He continued, seeming to consider this. "Which is why we have a backup plan. You see, we've been going through Andromeda's history thoroughly and yours. We won't let this be messed up agian, especially by a cause that's been dead over three hundred years." Anger flared through his words as he spoke the last part. That had been the first time the alien had strongly expressed any emotion. "If they're not dead we've made sure they know you've released a virus into the Andromeda that was so powerful it would have killed them within an hour." He explained. Oh great, they framed him. He swallowed, praying that Andromeda and his crew was still alive. "The plan was genuis, really. We switched your usual tools with different ones that contained the virus and left a flexi that had details on how to create the virus in a locked dressor in your room." He explained. "And of course, we took the Maru and left it somewhere before tricking it's records into thinking you left from it onto a different ship." Crap, these guys had gone through a lot of trouble to make sure Andromeda to come to his rescue. With that thought he began to wonder why. Maybe wherever he was was valnerable, maybe Andromeda could have easily rescued him. That seemed like a reasonable explanation for all their trouble. Then something else accured to him.  
"Alright, so how the heck did you get on the ship?" He asked coldly. The alien smirked and pulled up a device from a table beside him. When Harper saw it he recognized it immidiatly and felt the urge to groan almost overpowering.  
"There's something else I didn't tell you." He said as he shoved it into a data port Harper had not earlier seen. "Our race serves the Abyss."  
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Beka turned swiftly through the slipstream, allowing her instincts to take control. She found it difficult to navigate through the slipstream when her mind was on Harper. She was so furious with Dyllan, maybe even more than before. If he could only know why Harper hadn't told them about this. If he only knew what Harper goes through every single time he transforms. The images of Harper transforming in medical were still vivid in her mind. Of course Dyllan hadn't even tried to consider anything like this happening and she couldn't tell him. She silently cursed Harper for making her promise.  
She was brought back to reality as she almost missed a turn in the slipstream, sending the ship to lurch violently to the side. Tyr grabbed onto the consul behind her, nearly falling over.  
"Consentrait Beka." He scolded her irritabley. Although Beka didn't reply she tried to keep her focus on the slipstream. Finally after another turn an exit was made clear to her. She sped toward it and with a jolt the ship transitted back into normal space. Tyr glared at her as she abandoned the slipstream controls. She frowned as she realized just how badly Andromeda had been damaged. It looked almost as bad as the Magog attack. Wires and pipes hung out from the walls and ceillings and scraps of metal, amoung other things, lay misplaced and mishapen upon the ground. Sparks shot forth from various wires and the lights were still very dim and flickering. Her thoughts immidiatly turned to the possibility of the Maru being here.  
"Andromeda, is there any sign of the Maru?" She asked wearily, turning her gaze toward the view screen.  
"I'm in the process of scanning, but with the loss of power and damage it's taking longer." She explained. Beka nodded absently.  
"Alright." She sighed impatiently as she drumbed her fingers on the rail before her. As Beka's thoughts turned once more to Harper she began to wonder what had happened to him. He wouldn't have left them there, she was sure of that much. Where was he then? Who had taken the Maru if it hadn't been Harper and if it had then why? She sighed wearily, feeling a wave of guilt flow over her. If she had just stayed with Harper or even brought him up to the bridge this wouldn't have happened. She found herself pacing back and forth impatiently. Tyr sighed.  
"Beka, calm down." Tyr told her. She opened her mouth to retaliate, but Andromeda's spoke first.  
"I found it!" She exclaimed. This immidiatly caught Beka's attention.  
"Where?" She demanded. A picture of the Maru flashed on the view screen.  
"Not far from here." She told her, already heading toward it. "Beka..." She began after a moment's silence.  
"Yea?" Beka asked absently, her mind already racing through what could have happened to her favorite Engineer.  
"There's no life signs on board the Maru." She told her. Beka was taken aback.  
"What?" She asked in disbelief, concern and panic filling her voice. "Is there any signs of battle damage?" She asked immidiatly as fear crept upon her.  
"Other than from what you had, no." She replied.  
"Alright, move slowly to get the Maru into the docking bay!" She ordered as she raced toward the door.  
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Dyllan sighed as his eyes dropped to the tools before him once agian.  
"You sure?" He asked grimly.  
"Unfortunatley, yes." Rev stated sadly. Trance frowned and fidgeted slightly with her hands.  
"Well, maybe they aren't Harper's." She suggested. Dyllan looked up at her.  
"Trance, do you know something I don't?" He asked.  
'Yes, that the whole crew will fall apart if we don't find Harper soon.' She thought, but merley shook her head.  
"I just thought that maybe they were someone elses. I mean, the Drago Kazuf could've left them here and they could've gotten switched or something." She explained uncertianly. "And Harper's tools were all unique, so we could check if they were his." She added. Dyllan sighed, but nodded all the same.  
"Alright. But until then we'll have to assume Harper actually did this." He said as he headed toward the door.  
"We can't!" Trance said suddenly. Dyllan turned to look at her and she hesitated. The only future that would turn out good was if they focused their work on finding Harper and bringing him back. Besides that, Trance loved Harper. They were best friends and she couldn't let them waste such precious that could be focused onto finding him.  
"Trance?" Rev asked.  
"We have to look for him soon." She told them.  
"We're trying to find him Trance." Dyllan assured her.  
"No, I mean, I think maybe we have to focus all of our attention on finding him. Not just a bit of it." She explained.  
"We need to know what happened Trance." Dyllan reminded her.  
"Not as much as we need to know where Harper is." She said. Before the conversation could continue Andromeda's voice rang out.  
"Dyllan, I've found the Maru, but there's no life signs. I'm trying to get it into the docking bay." She explained. Dyllan nodded automatically before heading out of the room. Trance watched him go, feeling worry fill her. The perfect future seemed even farther out of reach then before.  
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Harper found himself silently pulling up every curse word he knew to his mind. Great, they worked for the frikin' Abyss. He would be forced to work for their mortal enemy. If he had been beside a wall he would've spent a good amount of time banging his head agianst it.  
"Do you want to know what else this collar does?" He asked, not bothering to pull out the device.  
'Not really.' He thought uneasily. "It will keep the bots in your body asleep. You see, although you were built to fight and live in cold wether, you were never suposed to turn back into a human. But, your kind is so weak so we had to improvise." He stated. He looked down at the collar as though to admire it. "Of course, before we put this on you there's one last matter to attend to." He said. A sudden gust of cold air filled the room and Harper felt his heart drop and his breath catch in his throat. Of course he had known this was coming, but it made no differance to how he felt. He shut his eyes and ignored the sound of the alien's footstep's echoing in the room as he left. As he lay there he prayed that somehow Beka would come for him and somehow she would save him like she had so many times before.  
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TBC once agian. Sorry if this chapter's a bit short O.o Anyways, agian please review! :3 I'd really like to know what you think of the chapter and story so far and also if you have any suggestions! :3 


	6. The Time has Come

Title: Barley Alive 

Author: Shakia

Chapter: 6 (whoot! :D)

Summary: Harper is kidnapped by aliens who claim they worked with the Dragons on the Ice Kludge project and they force him to do things he will never forgive himself for.

Authors Notes: Sorry it took me so long to update, guys! -grins sheepishly- Thanks so much for the reviews, they're the reason I write these! :D

Beka's footsteps clattered against the hard metal as she entered the Maru.

"Harper?" She called out to the empty hallway. The only responce was the normal clanks and moans of her ship. Her eyes scanned over everything as she headed for the Maru's front, hoping to find something out of the ordinary. When she could find nothing the frustration within her grew and she gave a curse.

"Can't find anything?" She spun around to see Dylan heading over to her. She glared at him, before heading toward the view screen.

"Not yet." She said coldly as she tapped away at the controls, trying to find the Maru's logs. Dylan walked up behind her, though keeping his distance. Her eyes flew across the words on the screen, for some reason they hadn't recorded anything visual. Dylan seemed to be looking them over himself and she gave another curse once she finished reading.

"Looks like Harper was on board. And left on a different ship." Dylan sighed wearily. She shot him another glare and got to her feet. "Beka, we've confermed that Harper's tools released the virus." He said to her back, though she didn't stop walking. Arguing with Captain Terrific was like talking to a wall. She'd known Harper longer. She knew how his mind worked, and knew that he'd never think of doing something like this. Something was wrong, her gut screamed it. Everything they'd found seemed out of place, so unHarper like. She gave an agrivated sigh as she again rounded the corner to find herself standing in Harper's old qaurters. Her eyes softened slightly at the sight and she released a heavy sigh before slowly making her way toward his bunk bed. Man, she missed him so much. When he got back she was going to make sure Dylan didn't continue this. And if he refused, well then she guessed they'd be the old Maru crew again.

As she sat down on the bunk and lowered her eyes to the Sparky can littered ground she spotted something. Upon further inspection she recognized it to be a ragged and barley recognizable teddy bear. She gently picked it up, her stomach twisting into a knot. It was Harper's. One of the few things he had brought onto the Maru when he had first joined. She had tried again and again to get him to get rid of it and had poked fun at him for it, hoping to convince him. It was smelly, old, and not even fit to be used as a rag. One night though he had told her exactly why he couldn't get rid of it. His parents had givin it to him and he finally admitted to her that they had been killed right in front of him, though he hid. He admitted the Neits that had killed them had wanted him and they had died for him. Beka had never urged him to get rid of it since. He had, however, agreed readily that no one should see it or know who's it was and so always hid it behind his pillow. He slept with it on occasion, but always made sure to keep it securley under his pillow away from any prying eyes. Harper would never be so careless as this. She got to her feet, still holding onto the bear and once again returned to the front of the Maru. She would figure out what was going on.   
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Dylan sighed wearily as he sat on his bed and raked his hand through his hair. He hated to admitt it, but this felt a bit too much like daj'vu. He frowned. He had placed so much trust in Harper, and though had been betrayed before realized it hurt just as much. Hurt that Harper had betrayed them so readily. He shut his eyes, feeling tired and weak and suddenly realized just how long it had been since he had slept. How long since they had all slept.

"Andromeda, tell everyone to get some sleep." He said wearily as he made his way to his bathroom. "We'll do this more tommorow."   
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"No!" Trance quipped again.

"Trance, you haven't slept in over twenty-four hours." Andromeda reminded her. Trance glanced over her shoulder at Andromeda's hologram.

"I don't really need it, and besides we have to find Harper!" She insited as she continued with her work. There were so many possible futures, though at the moment she could see no perfect one. She bit her lower lip worriedly.

"Trance..." Andromeda began, her voice holding some pain and caution to it. Trance turned to see her furrowed brow and worried expression.

"You think Harper really did it?" She asked softly. Andromeda hesitated.

"I don't know what to think, Trance." She replied honestly, her eyes downcast slightly. "But we've all been through a lot and you won't be any help if you're too tired to think." She reminded her.

"Sorry Andromeda, I have to stay here." She told her. She nodded wearily before winking out. Trance turned to her work, tears starting to swim in her eyes. "Oh Harper, I hope you're ok." She whispered softly as a tear escape her grasp.   
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The pain was unbearable. It felt like he was being torn in half, or burned alive only ten times worse. There was nothing that went in length to describe how it truley felt. How every moment he wished he would just die. That was the only thought in his mind as he screamed. He just wanted to die. 'Please, please just let me die. Please just make it stop.' He couldn't remember anything else, couldn't recall anytime without the constant pain. It seemed to go on forever. Then all at once, it finally stopped. He took gasps of air, letting it flow into his empty lungs. Soon his memories began to leak back and though he still felt like he was on fire, felt relieved. Felt his body relax slightly and felt wearyness and tiredness overtake him. As always the ticket to unconsciousness was offered to him, and though he almost always refused it welcomed it this time. The bliss darkness was his only escape from the nightmare that awaited him.   
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Beka had also refused Andromeda's insistance for her to get some rest. Andromeda told her that she looked horrible, weak, pale, and had rings under her eyes and was even shaking, indicating how much her sleep was needed. Though she still refused. She had spent a good part of her time trying to dig up anything and everything she could that might be out of the ordinary on her ship. She hadn't found much, but she thought deeply over what she did. One thing was that the Maru's slipstream had broken down when she had first borded the Andromeda after that two week expidition and of course Harper hadn't had the time to fix it. Of course it had been fixed and she had gone over the work and knew immidiatly that the work was not that of Harper's. It was thrown back together carelessly and not with the compasion nor the genuise that he had. Then of course, Harper's bear. She gave a sigh and sat back on the chair she sat at. And yet she wasn't anywhere closer to finding him.

"Beka." She turned around to see Rommie peer around the corner.

"Yes, Rommie?" She asked wearily, a hint of irritaion adapted to her voice.

"I was on my way to the bridge and stopped by to tell you someone's sending us a transmition. They say they know where Harper is." She told her. Beka snapped to attention and shot to her feet.

"Alright, let's go." She said, and without waiting for a reply raced past her.   
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Beka and Rommie reached the bridge in under two minutes to find Tyr, Trance, and Dylan waiting expectantly for them. Beka leant against a wall behind her and tried to catch her breath and Dylan nodded to Rommie.

"On screen." He told her. She nodded and a face appeared on the screen. The alien had tanish brown skin, spikes over his shoulders and firey orange eyes. Trance's eyes widened.

"Captain Hunt?" The man asked, braking into a grin.

"Yes, may I ask who you are?" Dylan asked lightly, though keeping his voice mistrusting.

"Who I am is of no importance. I know you're looking for Seamus Harper, and I happen to know where he is." He told them wryly.

"Why would you want to tell us?" Dylan questioned suspiciously. The man's face hardened.

"Because I hate my employers. They've been forcing our speciese on this project and some of us just want it to end." He seethed.

"Project?" Dylan pushed.

"Do you want to know where he is?" The man snapped. Dylan paused and nodded to him. The man seemed to consider something.

"Of course I'll only tell you for a price." He started. Dylan raised a brow. "Ranging from ten to fifteen thousand thrones." He continued. Dylan sighed and looked over to Rommie, his face stiff.

"I'm sorry, we're not intrested." He told the man. Beka gaped at him and just as she was about to yell at him he cut off transmition.

"Dylan, what the HECK are you doing?!" She screamed, storming to him.

"Sorry Dylan, but I have to agree with Beka on this one." Trance said urgently, her eyes flashing to the blank screen nervously.

"Beka, could you please join me in my quarters?" He asked wearily and headed there as he spoke. Beka let out a cry of frustration, but followed all the same. Though the walk through the halls was silent, Beka was silently cursing him all the way there. Immidiatly upon entering she exploded.

"Dyllan you IDIOT, how the heck could you do that?! WHY THE HECK WOULD YOU DO THAT?!" She roared. Dylan seemed unfazed by her words, which only made her anger rise.

"Beka, I know you don't want to believe it, but everything we've found....nothing even points to a different conclusion. You have to accept that." He said softly. She let out a shrill laugh.

"You really think he would do this?!" She demanded with a snarl, her anger continuing to rise.

"We have to accept that he has. He obviously doesn't want to be found Beka, and doesn't want to be on this ship anymore. We've found so much against him, and-" He started. She didn't exactly know what had happened but she found Dylan on the ground with a swolen eye and her over him, her fist throbbing. She couldn't hold it in any longer.

"You have NO RIGHT!" She started, feeling tears swim in her eyes. "You have no idea what Harper went through! NO IDEA! You want to know why Harper never told us about him transforming, huh?! Well Captain Perfect, maybe he had a reason! His, his _family_, his FAMILY tried to kill him! Yea, they hunted him down like an animal and nearly killed him! After going through hell and returning to the only people he ever trusted, they wanted to kill him. And that Neit he killed? He was the one who did that to him! Do you have any idea what he goes through when transforming?!" She gave another harsh laugh as tears streamed down her cheeks. Her face twisted into one of anger and hate as she glared down at him. "You have no right." She snarled through gritted teeth, before turning and bolting through the door. Dylan stared at her back, completley shocked.   
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Tyr frowned as he continued through his work. He hated to believe Harper had anything to do with this. He saw no reason the little prophesor would even consider it. His thoughts were interupted as Andromeda's voice rang through the room.

"Maru's launching from the docking bay." She announced. Tyr furrowed his brow and turned as the door opened to see Dylan standing there with a black eye. He would've grinned at this if it had been under normal cercumstances.

"Try and get her back." Dylan told Andromeda as he raced to the front.

"No use, she's not responding to hails and is going to slipsteam." She announced. Tyr turned to the front screen briefly to see the strings of slipstream pull the Maru away.

"What happened?" He asked, returning his gaze to Dylan. Dylan didn't respond and instead worked feverishly on the panel before him. "Dylan?" He pushed, raising a brow. Dylan sighed.

"Beka went to find Harper." He said softly.   
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On normal cercumastances the darkness around him would be suficating. Though this time it was almost comforting. It was like he was floating through the void around him. It was so peacful, more then he could remember anytime being. Suddenly he began to feel a dull ache fall over his body and frowned, wishing so desperatly that he wouldn't stop floating. He wasn't ready to return to the waking world, though why was still lost to him. The ache steadily grew to a horrible burning sensation and soon he found the pain to be coursing through his body. He let out a moan and reluctantly forced his eyes open, slugishly trying to remember exactly what had happened. He blinked a few times to get the world around him to stop spinning and as he did his memory slowly returned. He let out a groan and suddenly wished to return to his floating darkness. The world finally went into focus, though the fact brought him no comfort. He was still on the stupid table, though his neck was numb and throbbing. Plus that stupid alien was hovering above him, grinning like an idiot.

"I'm glad you're finally awake." He said, his grin never fading. 'That makes one of us.' Harper thought bitterly, glaring at the man angrily. "We were also able to transfer the colar on you." He continued. Harper felt his chest twist into a knot. Crap, definatly not good. Though, he admitted other than a major headache he didn't feel different..."And, don't try and take it off." He warned. Oh right, like he'd really leave the fricken thing on there.

Suddenly the metal bounds holding him down released him. He blinked, feeling surprise spread acompinied by one of those "this is not going to be good" feelings. He caught the man's look and groaned inwardly. 'Oh yea, totally one of those not going to be go-' He started to think, before suddenly he got up. He felt terror grip him at the realization that he hadn't been the one to make the comand. The man before him smiled with delight and looked to the cieling, seemingly savoring the moment.

"Finally, after all this time." He breathed. Harper wanted to glare at him, want to lunge at him, but he was forced to just sit there. Not even the emotions he felt exploding within him were reflected from his eyes. 'Oh please, please let this be a dream.' He begged. He never would have thought it to be so terrifying to be trapped within your own body. Boy, how he had been wrong.   
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"Fine, it's a deal." Beka told him snappishly.

"Prove to me you have the money. I've heard of you Ms. Valentine." The man on the screen in front of her said. She gave an agrivated sigh before pulling up her box of discs. His eyes flashed greedily as she pulled out a few.

"Worth more than ten thousand thrones." She assured him. "Now, where is he?" She demanded and set the box aside once more. He nodded eagerly.

"Alright. But, Ms. Valentine, I assure you if I don't get my money-" He started.

"I know! You'll get paid!" She snapped angrily. "But I can't know if you're telling me the truth." She scowled. He nodded.

"Yes, of course. But I must warn you that it will be very hard to get in unnoticed. Upon aprouching them tell them you're there to bring in another order and need to go dirrectly to Smathos with it. They'll know what you're talking about. Bring a box with you and they'll take you there. If you're here in the next thirty minutes he won't be there and after the gaurds leave you can move around freely." He said, obviously having put a lot of thought into the plan. Though Beka took notes on what he was saying, found herself getting more anxious to where he actually was.

"Alright, so where is he?" She demanded.

"Our colony is cloaked on an astriod, completley invisible to ship's sensors. I'll have to tell you exactly which astriod it's on..."   
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"I think we've got something Rommie!" Trance announced as she sat at a computer in Med Deck. She had been digging for something that would help them, and after hours of extensive by-passing and with a whole load of help from Rommie, they had finally been able to dig up footage that had before been very deeply burried. Trance didn't know what it was, though could sense it was important.

"I'm putting it on screen." Rommie told her. Suddenly an image flashed on the computer screen before them and the two watched intently. Though the sight was something they hadn't expected to see. It was Harper in the Med Deck, transformed, and Beka by his side. "Turning up volume." She announced quitley.

"Beka?" Harper questioned groggily, his voice horse and he looked dazed and confused. Beka moved closer to the bed and suddenly Trance could make out the look of horror that spread across his face. "How long?!" He demanded to Beka, looking around him frantically.

"Harper, it's alright we're back at the Andromed-" Beka started soothingly

"How long!" Harper repeated desperatly. Trance stared at the screen, worry consuming her. This was Rommie's logs, so why had it been burried?

"About forty minutes." Beka replied. Trance jumped as without warning Harper doubled over in pain and let out a strangled cry.

"Harper?" Beka asked wildly as she shot to her feet.

"Andromeda." Harper grunted, gasping for air. "Activate Harper three zero, password: Ice Kludge!" He managed to pant out. Trance exchanged a brief look with Rommie before the two continued to look at the screen.

"What? Harper?" Beka asked, her voice panicked. With a low moan the room suddenly went dark.

"Soundproof walls activated, lock down sequence initiated..." Andromeda's voice rang out.

"I can't remember any of this." Rommie whispered, her eyes still glued to the screen.

Beka looked around her, but she turned back to Harper as with no warning he started shrieking. Trance immidiatly paled, feeling herself go numb. His pain filled shrieks continued for such a long time, until Trance felt tears washing over her face. Beka went a ghostly white and began to shake, staring in shock at Harper. He continued, clutching for deer life the sides of his bed as tears gushed from his eyes. And he began to transform again. The hot tears washing down Trance's face grew.   
Stomach churning noises of bones and muscles crunching together and morphing were almost unnoticeable over his constant screaming. Harper screamed himself horse, pain etching every inch of him. Suddenly he stopped, his eyes rolling into the back of his head and he went limp on the bed. He was now himself once again, completley drenched with sweat, and gasping for air. Beka, still a paper white, collapsed into the chair beside Harper, looking utterly shocked. Harper's eyes briefly cracked open and he winced.

"Sorry." He whispered, his voice lost from screaming. Pain was still etched every bit of Harper's feature.

"Harper." Beka breathed in horror and disbelief. The screen suddenly went blank, though Rommie and Trance continued to stare at it.

"There's more." Rommie whispered after a long moment. Trance swallowed and whipped away her tears.

"Let's show Dylan first." She whispered. "We can watch the next part with him."   
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Hehe, yea, I make everyone punch Dylan in the face too much XP Well he deserves it for believing that our Engineer was a traitor, huh? :P Anyhow, TBC, let me know if you want me to continue it O.o Which also means, PLEASE, PLEASE review :D Reviews are my drugs! XD


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